Re: [xsl] orphans and widows??

[Greg Martel <gregm@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

In publishing, "orphans" and "widows" are terms used almost 
interchangeably both referring to runover lines of text. If a 
paragraph has 5 full lines of text and one word on the sixth line, 
that last word is referred to as an "orphan." A paragraph which 
starts on one page where the last line of the paragraph starts at the 
top of the next page is also called an "orphan." Finally, a "widow" 
is a paragraph which starts at the bottom of a page where only the 
first line fits on the bottom of the page and the rest is continued 
on the next page. Because the terms are often used interchangeably, 
your friend is telling you to "make orphans" by increasing the 
tracking--space between characters--of your text in order to create 
more runover lines or by rebreaking lines manually.

If you are trying to do this automatically in order to preserve 
SPECIFIC page breaks then your friend's suggestion is probably a poor 
one. You would have to go paragraph by paragraph to adjust each one 
accordingly. If you are using a typesetting software of some kind, so 
you should probably find out:

a) If there is any way to find or create a page break code in your XML
b) What the code is for a page break in your typesetting software and 
have XSL replace the old code (assuming you are able to add it) with 
the new code.

hope that helps a little.



> I am doing some work in FO and it has been suggested that in order to force
> data from one page to another I can use orphans and widows.
>
> I have no idea what they are, can anyone advise a site in which orphans and
> widows are explained and examples given?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Tanz
>
>
>
>  XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list

--
Thanks Muchos,

Greg Martel

XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list